outifts

[oOoSouthernStyozoOo]

I just want to know. What does your outfits look like. What color and style. My outfit consists of a t-dress style, black beadwork, and black beaded mocc and leggins, if i ever get them done. Also, how long did it take you all to complete your outfits?

Just curious!!:Angel2

[Beth]

I have had the basic outfit forlonger than I care to think about.
About 25 years. I keep working on it. I am always upgrading it.

[Blackbear]

I dress Iroquois with my overdress and velvet skirt and leggings and tiara. I carry a shawl and a eagle feather fan. I am not of southern tribe but my hubby is.

[X49ER]

jeans by Wal Mart
t shirt by K Mart
shoes Pay less
and we shop at Safe way because thats the Indian way

lol

[Renilde]

black shirt with long coloured tie-and-dye sleeves
pants by ............?????????? (no idea)
hiking boots
over 30 inches of blond hair, half of it in a braid

that's my office outfit for today!

[Brown wlf]

I dress in the traditional Abenaki style. Red wool side wrap skirt with ribbon work and floral applique beading and curvilar liniar designs. I have a red calico shirt that goes over this with a woven sash. My leggings are lether with side tabs which i will bead to go with my center seam mocs. I'm hoping to top this off one day with the traditional pointd hood. i also carry a shawl and fan.
I know this isnt a southern cloth outfit but there doesnt seem to be a northern cloth category.

Jill

[Blackbear]

I noticed that too...but since we are eastern woodland..does that really make us count as Northern? Our dresses are similar..but I like to use velvet instead of the wool. Although I bet the wool is easier to put ribbon on LOL!!!

[Brown wlf]

BlackBear,
Gee I dont know what that would count as. I guess Eastern Woodland would be a start.The little powwows I go to arent contest so the only catagories they ever call for the ladies is tradish, jingle and fancy.
Everyone in buckskins and a traditinal cloth and southern cloth get out there at once.
As for sewing the ribbon on the wool, I wouldnt know, My hubby used the sewing machine for that, I can hardly work the damn thing! Lol.
Jill

[NDNQt]

I have several cloth T-style dresses and two different sets of beadwork (nothing elaborate just hair ties and back barrette, and scarf tie), I also have on applique skirt and top. A couple of the dresses are applique too. Then I can just switch all my shawls around. Hopefully, this winter I will be getting a new applique dress because my velvet one catches everything. I think it is the grade of velvet that was used (at least that is what I was told by a Navajo lady). Then I have my new Kiowa boots and my much older plain boots. And all my silver jewelry since a am a shop-a-holic. And my stash of turtles -- I LOVE turtles!

NEXT . . . . . . . . .

[southern_apache_girl]

Well I have several T-dresses varying in colors, I have one set of hair ties, for now I have white moccs(they were). I am working on a new set of hairs ties and should be getting my breast plate soon. Oh yeah, I also have three two peice dresses. hey Hopigurl guess who???

[oOoSouthernStyozoOo]

is that you? You know who, I don't know if you want me to say your name, DOn had her baby, Taylor Nicole Cobb, a girl! Well, see you later!

[Czechy]

My array of outfits is always changing as I sell some, make some new ones, change what I have etc. I dance mostly Jingle but like to do Northern Trad once in a while too. I have a Lakota cloth dress and several Northern ribbonwork outfits in the Winnebago or Mesquakie style. I also have two sets of beadwork and accessories and part of a third set. My latest outfit includes 3 shades of purple along with white. Very pretty.

[Mato Winyan]

What, no photo? :)

Seriously, I was wondering how you set the price for the outfits you sell? I am terrible at setting prices for beadwork and sewing projects. I'm always too low.

[Blackbear]

Take the amount you spent on supplies...give yourself a nice but not overly paid salary per hour and then double it! LOL!!

[zeph]

first, i would say, scope out the scene. See what others are charging for what, what the ranges are, what kind of quality brings what kind of prices and where.

Next, get ready to do a little math. There's lots of formulas out there for figuring prices of handmade items, but here's one i've found pretty useful (this is assuming you're selling at retail and not wholesale):
Materials + Overhead + Profit + Labor = Retail Price

So here's how to figure these things. First, materials is obvious, add up your costs.

Next, overhead, is a little more complicated. If you're going to really be doing this as a business, then you need to be serious about the money you bring in. That means considering the things that a lot of crafters and artists tend to forget about, but which still drain the pennies from your wallet. This includes overhead and profit. Overhead is the cost to you of running your business, aside from materials costs. All those little things: the percentage of your home's rent, utilities, gasoline, office supplies, whatever. Figure out how much space in your home is devoted to doing your work; then use that to figure out the percentage of your rent etc. that is a business cost, just like you would if you were doing your taxes. This will give you a (loose) yearly average for your overhead (you can add in estimates for yearly travel, etc.). Then there's a couple of ways of applying this to your costs. You can
a) divide that number by the number of hours you spend each year on your work to get an hourly average (so, $3,000/yr overhead divided by 1,000 hours worked would be $3.00 per hour; then multiply that by the hours per item for a total overhead cost for the item)
or b), divide it proportionally based on the number of products you make, to apply to your product cost (i use system a, the math is easier)

Next is Profit, another one people forget as they just think about hourly wages. Hourly wage is great, but profit is what gives you the room to move ahead and build your business. Profit can usually be figured as 10% of the retail cost of the item (so, yeah, it's a little backwards figuring since you have to estimate a retail cost first to get a profit amount; but then you can tweak it as you work out your equation).

So at this point you have Materials + Overhead + Profit. Now you get to hourly wage. Set yourself an hourly wage, and multiply it by your time on an item, and add it in. This gives you a total cost that is trully supporting your business and not leaking cash out as fast as it's bringing it in. Now the hourly wage is where I fudge things, to get my price into the range I want it. But hey, i'll take $6 an hour to work at home when i feel like it (usually the middle of the night). and of course, the more you work the faster you get, and the more you'll be able to raise your prices as your work becomes known.

so here's an example from the santa dolls i make and sell:

Retail Price = $55
$55 - $9.83 (materials) - $5.00 (overhead) - $5.50 (profit) = $34.67 left (net profit)

$34.67 divided by 5 hours = $6.93/hourly wage

so you can go back and forth a little with your numbers to get a price that works, but at least using a formula like this gives you a general guide, and keeps you on target.